Voting booth



July 21, 1931. w. R. DOUGLAS ET AL 5 1,815,142

venue BOOTH Filed Dec. 11, 1928 2 Sheets-Shea! 1 Fie.1

W 9i 251721-9164, Zlwvwb W'- are. .fliouglaa :5 (Q Sfiouglaa 61km we 1July'Zl, 1931. w. R DOUGLAS ET AL 1,815,142

VOTING BOOTH Filed Dec. 11, 1928 2 Sheets-Shem 2 F l G 5 r /K F 25 a 6 v@ougfw.

alien wt Patented July 21, 1931 ATEiNT sigQiFiFll wA iLnon n. DOUGLAS,WILLIAM H. noUeLAs, AND DONALD Q. DOUGLAS, or CRETE, nnBnAsKA vo'rmeBOOTH Application filed December 11, .1328. Serial No. 325,176.

Our invention relates to voting booths and its primary object is theprovision of a combinedcontainerand collapsible voting booth of integralconstruction.

5 An -important object of our invention is the provision of acollapsible voting booth which is simple in construction and simple inits folding and unfolding operation.

Another of our objects is the provision of a structure of the classspecified which is light in weight and which has great strength towithstand the rough usage to which it is put.

Another object which we have in View is 15 the provision of a votingbooth attached to a container and foldable therein, the container havingspace within which to store blanks or records .or other material, thewhole structure being fireproof.

Having in view these objects and others which will .be pointed out inthe following description we will now refer to the drawings, in whichFigure l'is a view in perspective of a single stall voting boothembodying the novel structure.

Figure 2 is an illustration showing the keyhole slot joint which weemploy in several connections in our voting booth.

Figure 3 is an illustration showing the break oint linkage employed onsome of the braces of our voting booth.

Figure 4 is an illustration showing on an enlarged scale the latchbetween the first and second sections of the rear uprights.

Figure 5 is a view of a modification showing howthe voting booth may beconstructed in two stall form by means of very slight modification ofthe Figure 1 construction.

The container is preferably made from sheet metal which is heavilyreinforced at its edges. When open as shown in Figure l, the top and theforward end are open. 45 The lid 11 is hinged at l2 and it is providedwith flanges at the lateral edges and .with the flange closure 13 forthe forward open end of thecontainer. The container is further provided.with a hasp 14 whereby a 50 padlock maybeused to prevent unauthorizedaccess to the container. There is also provided one or more handles 15for c011- venience in transportation.

The booth frame proper is pivotally secured to the container at thelower rear cor- Q5 neredge thereof. -This frame includes two uprightseach having the three sections 16, 17 and 18 of substantially equallengths and pivotally connected so .as to be foldableover each other.The two sections 16 are inter- 6. connected by means of crossed braces19 which are connected with each other at their crossing point. Thesections 16 and 17 are pivotally connected together and thesection 17 isprovided at its low'er extremity with. 2.5 a sliding clip 20, the lowerend portion of which is adapted to overlap thesection 16in the mannerbest shown in Figure 4. The clip 20 may be readily released by moving itupward to disengage from the section 16 whereupon the two sections arefoldable on each other. Atthe junction of the sections 17 and 18 is ashelf 21 which connected by means of a common pivot to the sections 17and 18. This shelf is secured to tl1e ,sec- "I5 tion 17 by means of thebracesf 2 2 andito the section 18 throughthe braces The braces 22 and 23are each formed from a pair of pivotally connected straps having a breakjoint as best shown in Figure The sec tions 16 are held in their uprightposition by means of braces '24 having a construction similar to thebraces 22 and The top 25 of the booth isrectangular in form and it ispivotally secured to the sections 18 at 3, their upper extremities,having a pivotal movement of substantially three quadrants from thehorizontal position to the vertical depending position. The top islheldin its operative position bymeans of braces 26 99 connecting the sidesof the top with the sections 18. These "braces have ireleasable cons tin i th id f th tsp. t s connections being preferably rivets protrudingfrom the sides of the top and keyhole 9. slots in the braces for;engaging the protruding rivets.

The voting booth asabovedescrihed is set up inthe n'i"a mer .ShmvninFigure 1. The lid or cover; 11 of the container is utilized .19

for partially covering the rear of the booth and it is provided withmeans for engaging the sections 17 of the uprights in order to hold itin position. The forward portion of the top 25 is provided with a pairof projections at its middle point. The curtain 27, which is preferablymade from a single piece of canvas of rectangular form, is secured attwo of its corners to the projections at the forward end of the top 25so that it is folded around both sides and the rear of the booth and sothat it covers the front of the booth with its meeting edges arranged sothat entrance may be had by pushing aside the front flaps of the canvas27. The metal clips 28 are also secured to the canvas at its upper edgeand these clips are adapted to engage the top 25 to support the canvas.

The booth as above described is a single stall booth which is secured toa container and which collapsible into the container. It is sometimesdesirable, however, that two stalls be provided in a single unit andthis may readily be done with slight modification of the Figure 1construction as shown in Figure 5. In this case the container consistsof four parts 29, 30, 31 and 32, all hingedly connected together in amanner such that the opening of the container leaves all of its fourparts fiat on the floor. The uprights each consist of three parts 33, 34and 35 which are similar in all respects to the corresponding parts ofthe booth shown in Figure 1. The braces and latching devices for holdingthe sections of the uprights in vertical position and the devices forholding the shelf 36 in operative position are all similar to thecorresponding parts in the single stall booth. A second shelf 37 issecured to the uprights to project rearwardly therefrom. This shelf is'hingedly connected to the uprights and is positioned slightly below thelevel of the shelf 36. In its operative position the shelf 37 issupported by a pair of braces 38 which have releasable connections atone end. There is also provided a second top 39 which is foldable overthe top 40 in the collapsible position of the booth and which projectsrearwardly from the uprights. The tops 39 and 40 are preferablyconnected to each other and to the uprights by pivot pins passingthrough all three of the members. The top 39 differs from the top 40also in that it is U-shaped instead of rectangular. A permanent wall 41is secured to the uprights to separate the two stalls of the booth. Thiswall may be made from canvas similar to the outer walls but since itneed not be flexible, any other desired material such as sheet steel maybe used as a partition wall. The outer walls, however, must be offlexible material of which canvas is preferably the most suitable. Thewall 42 differs from the wall 27 only in that it is formed of two partsinstead of one. Each part of the wall 42 extends around one half of thetwo stall booth so that entrance may be gained to either stall by simplyseparating the canvas at its meeting edges in the middle portion of thefront and rear stalls. The top 39 is braced to the uprights by means ofbraces 43 having releasable connections with A the top.

Our voting booth will be found to be admirably adapted for use innumerous places in which the older style voting booths do not which mustall be placed in the proper locations. The present voting booth has theadvantage of light weight and extreme ease of manipulation. It is onlynecessary to open the container and to unfold the parts by extending theuprights. Each brace is firmly secured and its normal action isperfectly obvious to even the least mechanically inclined women.

When folded and stored the booth is entirely protected by the walls ofthe container which entirely enclose it. The canvas is loosely storedwithin the container which has ample space for the storage of blanks,records and other material. The walls of the container are of steelwhich furnish fireproof protection for the contents. Even in the almostimpossible event that fire should start within the container the firewill soon be smoothered from lack of air so that the contents will beprotected. lVhen the booth is erect and in use, it is fireproof sincethe frame is an all steel frame. The canvas for the walls may beimpregnated with a the proofing chemical which will make the entirebooth fireproof under any and all conditions.

Having thus described our invention in such full, clear, and exact termsthat its construction and operation will be readily understood by othersskilled in the art to which it pertains, what we claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A voting booth including a base, a pair of rear uprights pivotallysecured thereto and foldable thereon, each of said uprights consistingof three sections pivotally secured together in end to end relation andfoldable into parallelism, releasable means for main taining saidsections in erect relation, a top frame pivotally secured to the upperpair of said sections and foldable thereon, re-

leasable braces between said top frame and said uprights for releasablymaintaining said top frame in horizontal position a shelf secured tosaid uprights at the pivotal connections between two of the pairs ofsaid sections, and a pair of break joint braces at each side of saidshelf and secured to said uprights at points above and below said shelf.

2. A voting booth and a container therefor, said container having a baseadapted to serve as a floor for said voting booth, a pair of rearuprights secured to said base and foldable thereon, each of saiduprights consisting of three sections pivotally secured together in endto end relation and foldable into parallelism, releasable means formaintaining said sections in erect relation, a top frame pivotallysecured to the upper pair of said sections and foldable thereon,releasable braces between said top frame and said uprights forreleasably maintaining said top frame in horizontal position, a shelfsecured to said uprights at the pivotal connections between two of thepairs of said sections, and a pair of break joint braces at each side ofsaid shelf and secured to said uprights at points above and below saidshelf, said container having a closure whereby said container andclosure are adapted to entirely enclose said voting booth when the partsthereof are in their folded relation.

3. A voting booth including a pair of uprights each consisting of aplurality of sections pivotally connected together in end to endrelation and having means for releasably holding said sections in erectrelation, a pair of top frames pivotally secured to said uprights at theupper extremities thereof, said top frames normally projecting forwardlyand rearwardly respectively from said uprights and being foldablethereagainst, releasable braces for holding said top frames inhorizontal position, a pair of shelves secured to said uprights andprojecting forwardly and rearwardly re spectively therefrom, the firstof said shelves being secured to said uprights at the pivotalconnections between two pairs of said uprights and having break jointbraces connecting the first of said shelves to the uprights at pointsabove and below their pivotal connection, and the second of said shelvesbeing pivotally secured to said uprights at points below the first ofsaid shelves, said shelves being foldable against said sections, and abrace for releasably holding the second of said shelves in horizontalposition.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

WALLACE R. DOUGLAS. WILLIAM H. DOUGLAS. DONALD Q. DOUGLAS.

